Aight — if you're reading this, chances are you're at least marginally familiar with "Redo of Healer" and the controversy surrounding it. It's managed to get people talking (mostly arguing) about whether the main character (MC) Keyaru's actions are righteous and justified, whether it's really necessary to show everything in such detail, whether its explicit nature is gratuitous or warranted etc.
Let's get this out of the way first: if you don't empathize with Keyaru's trauma to the degree of finding his actions justifiable; if you can't stomach scenes of torture and rape — inflicted both by and to the MC, for various reasons; if you can't stand seeing an MC reveling in revenge for its own sake; you probably won't find enjoyment in this anime. There is rape (of both male and female victims), drug use, torture, violence, and sex acts of questionable consent graphically portrayed on screen. That being said: if you can get past the first two episodes, you'll probably be fine.
"Redo of Healer" is made to cater to a specific audience looking for specific things: graphic revenge (maybe not specifically against women (for some), but certainly against unfair authority), domination, turning the tables on those who treat kind people like trash, and being the hero to save everyone (more on this later). It's not meant to be high art or groundbreaking in anything except shocking the audience. Most of what makes it watchable, I guess, is wondering how far Keyaru will go next time in his revenge — the problem with that being that as the violence and "creativeness" of the revenge increase, things will ultimately devolve into silliness and the show will run out of ideas to keep things fresh.
The animation is serviceable; outside of the sex scenes — which are animated decently but not amazingly, by hentai (see below) standards —, it's fine. Not Queen Bee level (i.e. redrawn manga panels with characters moving like paper dolls), but far from "this project was a priority in terms of budget". And I can see you typing: "but it's not hentai!!", and yes, it's not, but the sex scenes (in the full version of the anime) are done like in a typical hentai, save for the pixelated genitals which are instead obscured by camera angles or conveniently placed objects.
The OP is frankly much better than I would've expected from Fantasy #459 of the season. The ED is fine too, but the voice acting is quite possibly the best thing about this anime, most notably during the torture scenes. The hilarious slapping noises during sex made me cringe.
One thing I will criticize "Redo of Healer" for is that Keyaru isn't developed past his trauma; we see some scenes of his past self in the first episode and after that it's solely revenge, with very short flashbacks of mostly torture and rape when a new target is introduced, and a few everyday life scenes that circle back to revenge. He lives for selfish revenge, and when he DOES redirect his anger to The System, it's still more about how HE can get pleasure from torturing and punishing others, and not from some newlyfound noble desire to help. The other characters are forgettable in that their only purpose is to either be killed, or tortured and bedded and sing praises to their "master".
The thing is...controversy aside, "Redo of Healer" doesn't have anything to distinguish it from the plethora of anime that are forgotten by the time the next season rolls around. Remove the gratuitous aspect of the revenge and you're left with nothing. Ah, I can see you typing: "but that's like taking alchemy away from FMAB or titans from SnK, you can't have the shows without those!!" — to which I say: yes, but also no. Could this revenge quest have been written differently? Sure, but that would take away from the "spectacle" of it and the show would end up barely making any waves. Right now, controversy is its only selling point and most likely its sole legacy — at least until later this year, when an even sleazier show will probably come along.
Did I enjoy it? Not really; I kept watching mainly to see what the "outrageousness" was about. To me, "Redo of Healer" is juvenile and cheap in how hard it tries to come across as provocative. It's not graphic enough to be a hentai, not deep enough to be a psychological thriller, and not well-animated enough to distinguish itself through that. Its greatest failing, in my eyes, is that, ultimately, it's "almost there, but not quite".
